Frequently-Asked Questions

Our purpose is to help foster a responsible and well-informed rope community. To that end, we organize a variety of free events and resources open to everyone (see the calendar for upcoming events).

However, to provide instruction at the level we offer here, we invest a good deal of our time and money. We charge for these services in order to off-set those costs so that we can continue to make these offerings available in a sustainable way. We greatly appreciate your support!

We re-invest the money into the rope community by improving facilities, hosting and maintaining the website, adding and improving instructional content and videos, and continuing to learn from top instructors in order to bring that learning back to the local community.

• Rope 101 consists of 2 sessions that are offered on a rotating basis throughout the year. You must take the sessions in order.
• Rope 201 consists of 8 sessions that are offered in the spring and fall of each year. You must take the sessions in order.
• Rope 301 consists of 6 sessions that are offered in the spring and fall of each year. You must take the sessions in order.
• Full Suspension and Private Instruction are offered throughout the year (depending on availability). You can schedule sessions online or by contacting us.

Visit the calendar for current schedules or the course pages above for further details.

At its core, Rope Study is a series of courses based on a structured curriculum designed to move cohort members through a progression of skills and understanding. As such, topics build on each other, and members are required to master some topics before they will gain access to others.

There is an expectation that members will practice the skills and review the information from the previous topics while using provided resources to prepare for the next topic. Members are also expected to adhere to the “core values.”

While we value the role of rope-centered social groups and skill-share opportunities, and while we do hope to enjoy the social aspect of the meetings and learn from the experiences and perspectives of all members, Rope Study is not a casual gathering, a social hangout, or a skill-share meeting. Therefore, it does not compete with such groups, but rather supports and relies on groups that serve those purposes.

In Rope 101, we try to offer a broad overview of the various styles and approaches to rope bondage to help participants decide what appeals to them about rope.

Starting with Rope 201 and all subsequent courses, the rope work we practice is based on and inspired by the Japanese style of tying, often referred to as shibari or kinbaku. We don’t teach Western-style bondage or purely decorative bondage beyond Rope 101. While we value those forms of tying and don’t mean to denigrate them in any way, it’s simply not what we practice (and therefore, not what we teach). However, we do believe that the skills we teach at all levels are applicable to other forms of rope bondage. Still, if you’re interested in studying those styles of rope bondage specifically, please contact us, and we can try to direct you to good sources of information.

We also want to point out that if your goal is to simply find some ways to tie up your partner for play, then the content in Rope 101 will likely be more than enough to get you started. However, the kind of tying we teach in Rope 201 and beyond may be more than you’re looking for in that case. You can certainly take the skills we cover and apply them to that goal, but that is not the focus of those courses. Take Rope 101 and come out to Rope Bite, as many participants there can also help you with those goals.

Rope 101 is designed for anyone new to rope! We explore various styles and approaches to rope bondage and provide some essential skills to get you tying.

Likewise, Rope 201 builds on Rope 101 and is designed for new rope artists ready to begin a serious study of rope bondage. If you’ve just discovered rope and are full of questions, this is the place for you!

Yes, we believe all skill levels can benefit from 201: Foundations, as this course seeks to enhance your understanding of rope bondage and improve on the skills of tying well. Rope 301 and 401 are designed for more experienced rope artists who are ready to start adding load to their ties. Finally, our private instruction is open to all levels, but is where we work specifically with more advanced rope concepts, techniques, and patterns.

Being perpetual students ourselves, we feel new ideas are always worth exploring. We also believe that, by sharing your experience and helping others, you learn even more. Experienced participants in 201 have reported that they learned something new at each meeting, even if those things were smaller insights and details than what novices gained. However, it will be up to you to determine if the return on investment is high enough for a given course. You will still be asked to progress through the material in order, but we expect experienced participants to move through more quickly and to be able to help newer members.

Rope is an art best practiced together, and our prices are structured to accommodate arrangements other than top/bottom pairs. However, given the nature of rope bondage practice, an equal number of tops and bottoms is ideal. We are open to singles and odd-numbered partnerships, but we cannot guarantee practice partners or equal practice times.

Also, to get the most from these courses, it’s important that you have someone with whom you can practice between classes. The more practice time you can put in between each class, the more quickly you will see your skills improve.

You should bring some rope 🙂

For the style of tying we’ll be doing, we recommend natural fiber ropes: jute, hemp, or linen. That’s not to say that you can’t study with us if you have different ropes, but you’ll want to avoid rope that is overly stretchy or slippery, as it will make it much harder for you to master the kinds of ties we’ll be studying.

In terms of specific numbers and related gear, we recommend:

Foundations:

• 3 to 4 pieces of rope approx. 8 meters/26 feet
• Safety cutters of some type

Partial Suspension:

• 6 to 8 pieces of rope approx. 8 meters/26 feet (optional 2-3 pieces of approx. 4 meters/13 feet or shorter)
• Safety cutters of some type
• Climbing-grade sling or webbing (120cm and 60cm sling or approx. 30 ft. webbing recommended)
• Ring and/or carabiners (3+)
• Marlin spike (optional)

Full Suspension:

• 8 to 10 pieces of rope approx. 8 meters/26 feet (optional 2-3 pieces of approx. 4 meters/13 feet or shorter)
• Safety cutters of some type
• Climbing-grade sling or webbing (120cm and 60cm sling or approx. 30 ft. webbing recommended)
• Ring and/or carabiners (3+)
• Marlin spike (optional)

For more about rope, see Types of Rope in the Rope 101 course.

Because our studio is at a private residence, we ask that participants dress “vanilla to the door.” Once inside, we recommend that tops wear comfortable, loose clothes that allow free movement without anything getting in the way. For bottoms, we recommend light-weight, fitted clothing that will not move with the rope or interfere with wrap placement. Very smooth clothing, like satin or pantyhose, will cause the rope to slip a lot and should be avoided. We do ask that all participants wear panties/underwear at minimum, but otherwise, you may be as naked as you’d like inside the studio. To help those who are cold-natured, layers are encouraged.

You are also encouraged to bring a mat and/or blanket. The floors at our studio have 1/2″ mats, but you will likely appreciate also having your own mat and/or blanket.

We also suggest bringing whatever will help you keep track of your learning: a notebook and paper, a tablet, a computer, etc. While we do not allow the videotaping of the course sessions, we do allow photos of your own work (provided no others are in the shot without explicit permission), so a camera or phone-camera can also be helpful.

Finally, we encourage you to bring a water bottle and a few snacks to help tops and bottoms maintain their energy throughout the session.

In contrast, we are a rope study group for people who want to move through a structured examination of their rope skills in a committed cohort of peer learners. That structure and commitment allows us to study in ways that aren’t otherwise possible.

However, we want to make clear that this is not, in any way, a critique of other groups that follow the open, skill-share model. We help run a number of those groups and value that approach! We believe that both types of opportunities are important parts of a healthy rope community.